LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT

Gebhardt & Kiefer plays an important role in real estate development activities in the northern New Jersey area. Over the past two decades this aspect of the firm's practice has become increasingly specialized, and we have represented developers in connection with numerous land use applications, including minor and major subdivisions, site plans, variances, and all other types of zoning applications, together with ancillary governmental permit applications relating to fresh water wetlands, stream encroachment and state highway access. The firm has represented numerous developers and land owners in projects ranging from the very smallest variance application to planned unit developments involving over 2,000 units. Our land use clients range from Fortune 500 companies to individual property owners, and we seek to give the same high level of service to all of our land use clients.

The firm's work in the land use field has brought it into close contact with many of the leading engineering, architectural, planning, environmental and traffic consulting firms which are active in the northern New Jersey area. As a result, Gebhardt & Kiefer has outstanding professional relationships with those firms and is able to assist clients in assembling the appropriate professionals for any type of land use project. In dealing with land use applications, we emphasize the team approach, and recognize that different clients may wish to coordinate the team's activities in different ways. While some clients, particularly full-time real estate developers, may wish to serve as the organizer and coordinator of all of the professionals associated with the project, other clients may not be staffed to do so, and may ask our firm to undertake that responsibility. Gebhardt & Kiefer is prepared to cooperate fully with the client's wishes in that regard.

Although litigation relating to land use issues is normally undesirable, it is sometimes inevitable. The increasing reluctance of governmental bodies to fairly administer their own ordinances and regulations, coupled with the growing tendency of neighboring property owners and special interest groups to commence litigation against developers, has created an environment in which land use litigation is no longer rare. Because of its long background in the field of general civil litigation, coupled with its expertise in the land use field, Gebhardt & Kiefer is well-suited to the representation of developers and property owners who find themselves in land use related litigation.